Digital signals don’t propagate anywhere near the distances that analog signaling can.
A good example, from the days before wide-spread fiber optic use in computer networking was 10Broad-36, which was sort of an analog version of what many people call “ethernet.” It used 2 coax cables, but you could run a distance of 3600 meters, as opposed to Ethernet’s 500 meters without a repeater.
Another example is the fact that a POTS (plain old telephone system) wiring’s local loop could go a very long distance between your home and the central office, but the very same line that carries DSL is much more limited in distance.
Mark
“Digital signals don’t propagate anywhere near the distances that analog signaling can.”
The real deal behind DTV was using less bandwidth, not reliability. They say you can have more channels, but it doesn’t mean much for OTA since you can only get a few at a time there.
Heck, I can pick up WSB AM 750 Atlanta on the radio, a station that’s hundreds of miles from where I live. I’ll bet you I can’t pick up a TV station that far away.